-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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This reform won’t cause anybody to lose their home. In fact it will benefit homeowners since more of the tax is being paid by owners of woodland. While I’m unfamiliar with Montgomery County, I know that in Cook County some “farmland” is taxed at very low rates, discouraging its development for needed homes.
I had no idea there was a state law that required woodland tracts to be taxed like homes. That’s completely insane. No wonder my neighbors own wooded land in Wisconsin and Indiana for recreation. That’s completely insane.